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Exclusive: A Writer & His Muses- A Chat with LEMPICKA's Matt Gould & His Leading Ladies
May 15, 2024
In this episode, we are joined by composer Matt Gould, who is making his Broadway debut with Lempicka after working on this project for over 14 years with Carson Kreitzer. He is bringing along the ladies, the muses of Lempicka, includng Lempicka herself, Eden Espinosa.
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Are you ready
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It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Well, hey everybody. My name is Robert Bannon
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and thank you for joining me on this exclusive edition of The Roundtable
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Yes, the Roundtable is now a part of Broadway World. I am so aga
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I cannot tell you how much I grew up typing in www.broadwayworld.com looking for the latest
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greatest theater news about Broadway and regional theater. I cannot tell you how much I felt
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supported in all the art that I've created by Broadway World, putting out press releases
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and I can't tell you how many fake accounts I have for the Broadway World message boards
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I will never tell you my username. It is a secret. You're just going to have to find out
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Well, the roundtable in case you don't know is a show where artists talk about and every single Friday, I'll be talking to you with some of theaters greatest and best
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And tonight, I cannot tell you how excited I am to have the stars of Lampica and the co-writer
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and composer Matt Gould here with you. I got a chance to see Lampica this week
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It is something really special. So hold on to your hat because Eden Espinoza and Bremont, Beth LaValle, and Matt Gould are all joining me
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What can you do? How can you be a part of all the things that we do here? Well, every single Friday, make sure you stop by
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We have people from The Notebook. We have people from Water for Elephants. We have Broadway legends lined up
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We have all sorts of great stuff coming to you right here on the roundtable. And you could also follow me and be a part of it right there at Robert M. Bannon on Instagram or go to Robertbannon
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We put up a daily podcast on the Broadway podcast network. There's a YouTube channel
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There's over 400 interviews. This all started as something fun to do during the pandemic
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And we've done red carpets, film festivals, press events. legends have joined us here on the roundtable
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and now I get to bring it all to you right here on Broadway World. I am so excited
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For over 14 years, this show has been in the works, and in a season full of shows for movies and television shows and books
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and original music makes its original musical, excuse me, with original music
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makes its way to the Longacre, and I cannot be more excited
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For me, this journey, and story is personal, and that's why I'm so honored
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for the first roundtable with the Broadway World family to be about Olympica
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Are you ready? Here we go. Well, I told you our brand new series
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with the Broadway world and that we have the biggest, oh my goodness, this show means so much
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It was the most exciting, exhilarating thing to be at the dress rehearsal. I hear the previews have been off the chart
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Try to get a ticket because they're sold out. We're selling out every single night
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Matt Gould, Eden Espinosas, Amber Iman, are here, welcome to the Broadway, y'all. Hi
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Boo, who cried my face off at your dress rehearsal because to see this journey
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and to see the work that you've all have done for a decade plus was so moving
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Matt, welcome to Broadway debut. Let's go! It happened. It was very surreal and very crazy
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And I get to do it with some of my, like, very favorite humans. on the finite, aside from you
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So it's amazing. Giving voice and body and acting their faces off
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Honey. You know, come up. Matt, after your dress rehearsal, she said it was like an out-of-body experience
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You said you didn't even know what happened. How would you describe last night? Oh, my God
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Oh, my God. Come on in. Come on in. Wait for it
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Wait for it. Look at her. Stunning. Body is great. Oh, my
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Come. I mean, when he hit green. Work. Come on in. The road
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Yes. Come on. Make no. Tony Award. Get in here. Pet. Yeah
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We look like a baby. You all didn't be dead. Matt, how do you describe
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the night with the audience? How did each of you? How was the night last night in front of a sold-out house at the Longacre
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I mean, last night was pretty, sorry. I'm like, trying not to like throw a back thing
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Oh, it's right. I'll find it. I know, that's right. I mean, last night was like our first night with like a, like it was our first preview
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Last night was, was unbelievable. And I did have a couple moments where I was like, holy shit
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This is it. This is my childhood dream coming true with these extraordinary people around me
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And it was, it was very profound. And also, I always feel the need to say this because I'm like Jewish and 44 and
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and it was also like a day at work, which I'm grateful to be old enough in my life to sort of
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not just be in the dream of it, but to also be in the reality of it
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Because I, you know, because I've, because I've lived bong enough to know that like dreams and love
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and life and art is complicated. And, um, and so I could
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feel all the complication and simultaneously all the beauty. And it was beautiful and powerful
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And there's nothing like the rush of like hearing these incredible women sing your music and
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then have people scream. Scream. It is joy. Yeah, it's joy. Screaming. Miss Espinoza, you are radiant and ravishing as always. You have always been
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But what I saw on Monday night and what people saw last night is transcendent
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This is your season. What was it like to be center stage and take that curtain called bow
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We've seen the pictures. People have posted your bow. What was going through your head
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I was just grateful. I was, well, one, relieved that we made it through
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It's a little bit of a bumpy preview for me, but we can only be where we're at
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But I was grateful. And I had a note from a friend of mine who came to
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the dress rehearsal that was like take your time your hurry through your bow too much you've earned it take
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your time and walk there slowly and take up the space and so I was trying to do that but it was very hard for me it was hard but it was I couldn have asked for a better a better moment with this show and this cast and this creative team
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It's just a long time coming. And it's just, it's our time
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It's your time. Miss Iman, you are, you have quite the work history with Matt and with Eden and with this, with this team
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What was it like to, when you got the word that this had a theater and was coming to Broadway
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Oh, my gosh. What's funny is I was in San Francisco about to do the first run through for Soul Train
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and I looked at my phone and they said, we had a house. And I went, oh, my God
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It was honestly, like, for me, this is six years? But how many years have I known you
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10, 11 longer. I've worked on every professional show Matt's done in New York City
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I don't know why I keep saying yes. He doesn't know why he keeps asking me. But we're here
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He knows. He knows. that. But like, it's weird. People keep asking me about me and I always go back to Matt. Like
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I'm just so happy for Matt. You know, this shouldn't be his Broadway debut, but at the same time
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it should because the timing is right. It's not our plan. You know, the plan is always bigger than us
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So I'm just so grateful to be here. I'm grateful that the stars aligned and the timing is perfect
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And I'm just happy to be a part of seeing a dream come true. You know, I mean, to get to do what you love with people you love is a gift
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always this. Like, let's be honest. And so to come to work and it's joy, and even when it's
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hard or frustrating or we're in the weeds, like we still remember that we love each other and
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we are blessed to do this work. And it just makes it that much sweeter, that much more special
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So since that text message, I've been like, okay, buckle up to myself and the world
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Amen. And you will never see chemistry on stage like you do with Eden and Amber
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their chemistry. Try that again. You will not. That, that chemistry on stage, that work that they've done together, that is something
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rare and special. Beth, when you got the script and read this project, what was it about it that you said
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this is my next piece? This is what I need to do. I heard the songs first
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And I thought these songs, and it's an original show, an original book, original everything
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and I didn't hesitate one minute to say yes. And then I heard it was coming to this theater
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I'm like, oh. You're home. Yeah, that's good. That's good. So, and I'm really glad I said yes
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I love it. I know that's right. Listen, the trolls, we're here on Broadway
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Oh, froze. The Broadway World Message Board, friends, I sat with Matt, and we went through the questions
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They asked important questions. is Eden doing eight shows? Is Amber's number still in the show? Is Beth going to get to sing
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Beth, do you get to sing in this show? I do. I get to sing this fantastic song
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Big, giant, emotional moment. Beth, center stage. Beth, come on. Matt, when did the idea of Limpica come to you? When did Carson come to you and say
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would you do this with me? How did it happen? 14 years ago, we were doing
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collaborate thumbs up if you do that it absolutely. AI honey. AI is what our show is about
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It's about like man versus the machine. God damn. But yeah, 14 years ago she came with this idea
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and she showed me the book of Tamara's work and I was like, I know that work, what guy did that
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And she was like, exactly. And, you know, I immediately just connected the material
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Oh, there it is. There it is. There it is. There she is. I just felt like this sings
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This work sings. There's an invention between the sort of like perfect veneer of the paintings and the
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inside their eyes. And to me, like, that's what the theater is
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It's this tension between like what we say on the outside and then what we feel on the inside
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which is where we have to sing, where we get to. to express what's really going on
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And so it just immediately was like, yes, this is a musical
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I know what this is. I know what it sounds like. And we'll be ready in a year to 14 years later
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Here we are. While you're talking, you can get your tickets to selompicaumusical.com
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You've got to get them now. The show will open April 14th of previews are going on
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So you've got to come and see it. Eden, I said to Matt on Monday, I said, you write
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Like only Matt Gould can write. Beautiful, complex, hard, gorgeous music. Say hard again
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It is a computer. It is a pulse. It is its own human being
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What is it like to sing this score every night for two and a half hours
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What a delight. It's hard. It's hard. It's very challenging. But in the best way, you know, this entire community is, like, very supportive
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and you know obviously when you get out of your own way it sings itself like we'll carry you um
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this but the second you are you start to like get in your head about anything it's it's it's it's
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dooms day but you know but uh i think that goes with anything but it's uh i amber and i did a
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a panel this morning and I was saying like, to sing melodies like Matt writes
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and to say lyrics like Carson writes is like, I've never had anything like it and I don't know
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if I ever will again. It's just, the material is just rich and so beautiful and good
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There's no sad and dad rhymes and bad and mad rhymes. We're not doing the cat in the head lot
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No. And when you come to see the show, all of the lyrics will make sense
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So when you listen to womenism and when you listen to the songs that are out, they all make perfect sense
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So get tickets. You all hear the songs in a brand new way once and all connects to the story
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Amber, you have a speaking of Tony Awards, your work and advocacy work
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and the things that you created and the way that you spoken about this business has been at the forefront of your work as an artist What has this show done right to make you feel like what has been done during the pandemic
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and through the protests of what has done on? What has this show done right that you felt you were able to come back and do this show
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I think it feels like you have a team that listens that understands that it will not be a perfect
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process. We are not perfect people. And there's a level of accountability that has to be taken if you make a mistake
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I think that's all artists are looking for. Teams that are listening, that are open, that are willing to hold themselves accountable
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that are willing to communicate, collaborate. It's just an open heart. You can leave your ego at the house or at the stage door wherever it's most comfortable for you
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That's what it feels like here. And it's so easy. I think a lot of people make it much harder than it is, but sometimes it is hard to check that ego
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and to understand that you might make a mistake. that's okay. Just acknowledge it. Apologize. Hold yourself accountable and move on. And that's what
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it feels like working here. We've got some really beautiful moments with the team. There have been
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slight challenges, but nothing that we couldn't like move past. And to watch how everyone is
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navigated has been really comforting and easy. There's been an ease to this. You know what I'm
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saying? Especially this time around. Every process has been different. And I think that's the beautiful
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part is we learn every single time. Have every workshop. How can we communicate better
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How can we listen better? How can we show up differently? How can we space for each other
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Make space for each other. And that's been really delightful to be a part of and witness
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And it's delightful for us too much, for sure. Beth, you were acting, and we know you from some of the most comedically funny
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some of the most musical theater, true and true musical theater, with all the awards to show for it
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You bring such leaveny and light to sometimes a very heavy and dark story
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What was it like when you were on stage and you started to get those laughs and you started to hit
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How do you have comedic timing without an audience? How do you feel it? I don't know
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Good night. I really don't know. You know, I have an internal clock and I kind of know what's funny, what's not going to be funny
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Then the audience gets something to go, oh, I was so wrong about that
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Or I, yeah, I did hear and feel that. And that's why, you know, each night of the audience is going to teach them something different and the creatives and everyone
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And that's the way as part of previews. And that's the point I think when an audience comes to see a preview, you have an integral part of the next step
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So please laugh. I know that's right. They're laughing and cheering and jumping out of their seat
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Also worth saying just like Amber and Eden have been a part of this for a long time and have taught us a great deal about our
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show, Beth is new to the process. And speaking for me, taught me so much about, like, where the
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humor is in our show, where there needed to be lightness. We needed lightness. And I don't
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use the word lightness to say, like, fru-frid. I use the word lightness to say, like, we, you know
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I think George C. Wolf said a show has to have buoyancy. A musical has to have buoyancy, or
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it doesn't work. And Beth taught us, like, for me, she changed the, like, DNA of our piece
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because she taught me where we had to look for buoyancy, where we had sort of my tendency is to, like
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emote, feel, cry, ugh. And, like, she taught me where we could, like, be silly
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And then I think, in turn, like, the rest of the cast started to find
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like, oh, where can we just not have to take ourselves? so seriously in this book. Where can we just find a different color of humanity to use a word
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that I probably should use that. But but just where can we find different different sort of
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numbers on our dialogue? And it's been really fascinating to just get to do that. So thanks
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You're welcome. You're going to get all of all the fields and all the fun. When you
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here's my controversial question of the night. After seeing it, how would
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Are you not scared of the stairs? Can we talk about the stairs? When you see the show, the design is so gorgeous
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The lighting is so gorgeous. The costumes are so gorgeous. You all are in a marathon
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They are upstairs, downstairs, running up and downstairs. What is, how do you
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You haven't seen backstage. It's the same backstage. It's maybe more. Yeah, more backstage
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And I just have to, for pity sake, There's one thing that Nate and I do that we start
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I call it the tree house, which is at the very third floor, it's a little area, quick change
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We have to go downstairs that I think were created, I don't know, the turn of the century
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I've never seen those stairs. There's probably bodies back there. Go down more to the basement
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cross over, go up four flights, and then climb up the three spiral staircases
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and then built. Thank you. Thank you. I'm really, yeah. You just can't, and you can't have any fear
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You honestly just have to just do it. Absolutely. That's it. Hold your shoes, hold your cops
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whatever you got to do it. And you do it. And you do it. And it is beautiful to watch
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And it works so incredibly well. Eden, who is this show for? When I left, I brought my cousin and she said
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it's a woman show. It's a queer show. It's a show for outsiders. But it's a show for really
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there's humanity in every piece of it. Who do you think this show is for? I think we're finding that
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That's what we're finding. But I think it is for everybody. You know, and I think the two audiences
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that we've had or one and a half because our invited dress was, you know, not a full audience
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But I think it's, it's really was the first time that it hit me going like, oh, this show has
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something for everyone. And it hasn't always felt that way. But I think that like it has expanded in so many ways and it has grown so beautifully that
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there really is something for everyone. And I, I just love discovering the relationship with the audience every night
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and I'm looking forward to Marlman. How do you remember? I know it's brand new, but how do you keep it fresh
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How are you going to keep this fresh and the relationship fresh? Beef nights a week and you guys have done this show in Hawaii
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So we'll go up with this show for a decade. How to put us the trick as an actor to stay on the ear
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and to keep it this fresh on I think you just tell the truth every night I hear things differently every night Eden will say something different or an eyebrow will raise or a smirk on her face And if I listening then I just tell the truth and that that ordered
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I maybe is it more difficult than it does? Yeah. I can't wait for that time. Yeah
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When it's just like, oh, when it's you eight shows away. Right, because we're still in this previous process trying to remember what we change and what number and what is different and what is new
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But I can't wait for the moment when I can. All I have to do is really just listen to be present
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I read an interview with you that one of the first songs you wrote for this was one minute
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And I recall you're living in Harlem back in the day. You put out a YouTube video of you singing it
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It got a ton of views. People have been singing the song
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The sheet music has been sold and stolen and copied in blocks all over the place and been ruined in audition rooms for years
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What is it? And I know that's a secret dream. a walk through Berkeley career or somewhere and hear someone singing woman is for 16 bar
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fat. Matt, what what what has it been like when you now see this song parody, people singing it
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on social media, becoming having a life of its home? That's, it's, I don't know, I guess
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having become a father over the course of making this show a couple times over, I think that
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there's like something profound about watching your kids do things without you and realizing that
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you've like passed something on or just or just enabled them to be able to live and I think that
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it feels very similarly um you know I make I make work that keeps me up at night that I feel like
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I have to make or I will suffocate and so um whether they're joking about it or trying their best
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and not quite getting it or giving a virtuosic performance. It's just, you know, it's what tomorrow was trying to do
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She's trying to like leave something to capture something that is like, that lasts
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And it's just sort of a little piece that God willing gets to just go on and give me a couple
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years past when I expired from this earth to know there's something, like you left
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something you did something um so i'll pick it in whatever form it is and uh yeah and so bless thank
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you it's only just begun this is this is going to live forever this this show will be done and i
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can't wait you know to go to the jersey community theater version of this yeah
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i'm afraid to say i remember when if you if you are if you love women is you got to see the
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show because i dare any singer out there to out sing in espinosas singing i love these holes no
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I mean, the screen comes down behind her. She is centered and she is singing to the last row and across 42nd Street
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It is a tour de force. They are vocal acting lessons right here
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You need to get in there, get in there and get in there and look. Thumbs up again
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Come on, thumbs up. It's crazy. Around Robin question before I let you all go and do a show and have a moment
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What is the theme? What is the lesson that the show people
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will be where the audience will be. Who's starting? You. The theme is to, I think, to live a brave, bold life
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And it's a long, that's too long of an answer. But that's what I want people to walk out, do
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I want people to live to see the show. I can be braver
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I can be bolder. I can take a bigger risk. I live once
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And we're all going to up. We all up. I ed up. My experience of working on the show for 14 years is a string of -ups
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And I always say like a body behind me. And also light and joy
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And I'm trying to learn to be better and bolder and kinder
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So that's it. That's it. Keep going. Keep going. That's it for me
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This show to teach it every day. Keep on. Changes every day
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I think beauty is everywhere. Mm-hmm. Yeah, all of that. Authenticity
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Search for it. You do not control the world. That's right. Well, all I can say is I am
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so excited. I want to be there every week. I want to be there every single week to see the magic
24:57
A horrible ticket options. So please. And there are. And thanks to the producers in the show
25:02
you can get a rush ticket, you can see a ticket for less than $40, which is unheard of on Broadway
25:07
So if you're a student, if you're somebody, I'm telling you're going to get a whole big
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old big Broadway show with amazing talent. You all mean so much to me. This is like, I wouldn't
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act without Eden. I would not have ever sung a show without Amber. And I would not be
25:21
anything I am without Matt Gould. And so you all, I owe you an incredible debt of gratitude
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And Beth, we've been watching and enjoying, and I've been fanning out about you for a decade
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So you all are, I mean, so much to me to start this partnership with Broadway World and have you there
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Congratulations, break all the legs, happy opening, happy moments and go, knock, break all the legs and knock all their socks off. Hey! Hey! Hey! Yeah
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Everyone, Lapica Musical.com, get your ticket to sit the long at your theater and you can get them quick
25:53
You better get them. Well, folks, there you have it. Welcome to my messy, messy show every single
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Friday right here on the Broadway world. I'm so grateful to be with you
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I hope you follow and listen, but more than anything, I hope you support art and artists
26:08
Thank you, Matt Gould. Thank you, Eden Espinoza. Thank you, Ambriman. Thank you, Beth Level
26:12
Thank you, everyone. That's a team at the Lampica Musical. Thank you, Broadway, World, and thank you everybody for listening
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I will see you on the message boards. I will see you on YouTube, and I will see you here every single Friday with the roundtable
26:27
Who's going to be on next week? I don't know. You'll have to just stick around and find out
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There's always more love than there is hate. There's always more joy than there is sadness
26:36
And the best is always yet to come. Till next time, thank you, everybody, for being here
26:40
I'll see you again
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